


Goofballs Shouldn't Be Sad

by NixTheLapin47



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Kinda, Lance is jealous, Prediction Fic, ball fic, more like a hope, pidge is a nervous wreck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-18 01:16:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16985361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NixTheLapin47/pseuds/NixTheLapin47
Summary: With the Galra and Haggar defeated, the Garrison hosts a party to celebrate the liberation of the universe. Now that the war is over, everyone is having a blast. Well... except for one loverboy.~~~One quick plance dump before this season ruins me.





	Goofballs Shouldn't Be Sad

The ballroom was cluttered with people, almost all of them human, save for a few members of the rebels and refugees as well as Coran, Romelle, and Allura. Despite the original nervousness of being around aliens, the humans seemed to be having fun with them. It was almost relaxing, watching them enjoy themselves seamlessly. Pidge, on the other hand, was an entirely different matter.    
  
She was standing by the white metallic wall of the Garrison, wearing a knee-length green dress with decorative lace along the collar, which Allura had forced her to wear. She hair had been straightened, making it look longer than normal, and was completed with a light green headband. Allura had asked her to not wear Matt's glasses for the night, claiming it looked nicer to see her face clearly. Pidge didn't particularly mind; the glasses weren't prescription after all. But it did feel odd, not having the glasses weigh on her nose as they had been since the Garrison. The dress took some getting used to as well. Though she did used to wear one back on Earth, it had been so long since then.    
  
Allura had actually made all of the paladins dress nicely, rather than the paladin armor that she was fine with them wearing in the Arusian party. She wore her usual princess wear, but all of the male paladins wore suits with ties matching their respective armor colors. She said that it was only natural that they would dress special; it was for a special occasion after all: they had finally defeated the Galra.    
  
At the thought of the Galra, Pidge's head turned to look at the Blade of Marmora, who were standing near the grand entrance, keeping to themselves. Much to Allura's disappointment, the Blades refused to dress in anything but their uniforms, no matter how much she tried to convince them. Still, Pidge was surprised that they came at all given how solitary they are. 

  
She laughed to herself, thinking about how she called Keith "the loner." Maybe it was a Galra thing? Turning her head again, she scanned the room, looking for the former red paladin. After looking in the outskirts of the room, she was surprised to find him not sulking by himself, but rather in the center of the dance floor,  _ with  _ **_Allura_ ** ! 

 

Shocking as it was initially, the sight was actually kinda funny. She was teaching him how to dance. Pidge couldn't tell which dance (maybe it was Altean?), but Keith seemed to be having a difficult time with it. From what she could see, he kept stepping on Allura's feet, which he was constantly apologizing for. Allura didn't seem to mind though; she just continued to smile and instruct him in the movements. Pidge couldn't help but smile as she watched them. An Altean and a Galra. Who would've thought there'd be a day when they'd be dancing together and enjoying themselves? Especially after everything Allura went through with Lotor. Well… one of them enjoying it at least.    
  
She turned her vision away from them and scanned the rest of the ballroom. On the opposite wall were Matt, her mom, her dad, and Shiro, chatting about who knows what. She considered joining them, but decided against it. It's been a while since they were able to have an actual conversation together since she found Matt, not to mention since they got back to Earth. Especially since the real Shiro was back now, white hair and all; she was sure that they had a long to catch up on.

 

Still, she would rather be talking with them instead of trying to mingle with the other guests like Allura wanted them to. She… wasn’t very social, to say the least. Balls and dances were not her thing. If she was allowed to, she would run out of there (or the best she could with these stupid dress shoes) and go straight to Green and fidget with the Altean tech she was trying to integrate into Earth tech. 

 

Alas, there she was in the ballroom, with the dress and shoes, not with Green, and surrounded by loud conversations and strange music. 

 

She released a loud sigh and leaned herself against the cool metal wall. Closing her eyes, she tried to think about the projects that she was working on in the hangar, but her thoughts were pulled away from her by the jumble of noises surrounding her. She opened her eyes and dashed them around the ballroom again. Maybe she  _ should _ socialize like Allura wanted. It would at least give her something to do. 

 

She spotted some Olkari not to far away from her hiding spot and stepped forward to go join them, but stopped when something caught her eye. There was someone else in the room who was by themselves off to the side: Lance. 

 

This surprised Pidge more than anything. Why would Lance of all people be on the side by himself? He was the social one in the group. Pidge assumed that he would be off flirting with some girl (or girls). She couldn’t understand why he was all alone. She squinted her wide eyes at him, noticing his unusually solemn face. He just seemed so deflated, empty of his normally cheerful self. He almost looked… sad? What did he have to be sad about? They had just won the war against Zarkon’s empire. They were home with their families. What possible reason did he have to be sad? 

 

She followed his hollow gase to the center of the ballroom. 

 

_ Oh _ . 

 

He was watching Keith and Allura. 

 

It was no secret that Lance had a crush on Allura. He’s been head over heels for her since he caught her from the cryopod. How could he not? She was everything he could look for in a girl. Beautiful. Brave. Strong. Not to mention she’s a princess. 

 

And she was with Keith. 

 

Ever since Pidge first heard about Keith on the night they met, Lance always seemed to play them off as rivals, however one-sided it was. And now his “rival” was dancing with his crush. 

 

_ No wonder he looked heartbroken _ . 

 

Pidge pressed her lips together and teased her dress at her sides. It was painful to see him like that. Lance was the goofball; he shouldn’t be sad like that. He shouldn’t be sad at all. 

 

She turned away from her route to the Olkari and set towards Lance. 

 

The walk seemed to take forever, her heart thundering louder and louder in her chest as she got closer to him. What was she even going to say? This wasn’t some computer she could just reprogram; this was  _ Lance _ .

 

How do you even comfort someone with a broken heart? Lance has liked Allura since day one. Everyone else could see it clear as day, not to mention is obsession with flirting with every girl he sees. 

 

Well, every girl… except Pidge.

 

It’s not like she blamed him for that. Heck, he thought she was a boy when they first met; she had gone through a lot of trouble to make sure people  _ would  _ think that. And even though she revealed to everyone she was actually a girl, she never expected him to start flirting with her too. She wasn’t exactly the kind of girl Lance seemed to be interested in anyways; she was nothing like Allura. 

 

That didn’t stop her from being jealous whenever he flirted with a girl, though. Did he really have to be so obnoxious about it? He didn’t have to rub in the fact that she’d never live up to what he was interested in. 

 

Nerdy girls just didn’t get the hot flirty guy. 

 

And she accepted that. She may never be what she wants to for him, but she’ll sure as hell be what he needs. And right now, he needed someone to comfort him, even if that was just her being there for him. 

 

When she finally reached him, she stepped slightly behind him so he wouldn’t notice her immediately. Guess she wasn’t completely rid of her nerves quite yet. Her fingers fidgeted with each other, resisting every order she sends them. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. 

 

_ Now or never… _

 

“Hey, Lance.” 

He jumped in his place, his head snapping around to find the voice. Once he saw Pidge, his features relaxed. 

 

“Oh, hey, Pidg….”

 

He drifted off as he took in her appearance. His eyes drifted to her dress then back to her face, which was just as dolled up as her dress, thanks to Allura. 

 

She felt herself blush under his gaze. Hopefully the foundation Allura caked on was enough to cover it. She gave him a sheepish smile as he tried to compose himself. 

 

“You, uh,” he stuttered. He swallowed and tried again, “You look… nice.” 

 

Damn, she really hoped all this makeup was hiding the blood rushing to her cheeks. 

 

“You don’t think it looks weird?” 

 

“Well, yeah- I mean, no! I mean-” 

 

“Yeah?” she inquired, mouth going dry. 

 

“It’s just… different is all,” he said finally. His eyes widened slightly, realizing how that might sound. “Not bad different! It’s just not the kind of thing you usually wear. I haven’t exactly seen you in a dress before.” 

 

Pidge stayed silent for a moment, then giggled, bringing a hand to her mouth. 

 

“Well, you technically have,” she responded after her giggling subsided. She looked up to see a look of confusion on Lance’s face. “Remember that picture of me and Matt that Hunk took out of my backpack at Keith’s shack?” 

 

His brows furrowed, thinking back to when all this craziness started. Then, his eyes lit in recognition. 

 

“OH!” 

 

That earned him another laugh. 

 

“Yeah, ‘oh.’” 

 

“Oh man, I didn’t even think about that!” 

 

He brought hand to his head, as if steadying himself, returning her laugh with his own. 

 

“Guess the image of you looking like a girl didn’t really go with hearing you’re a girl.” 

 

“Well… that  _ was  _ my goal. Couldn’t exactly infiltrate the Garrison when I still looked like Katie.” 

 

“Guess not.” 

 

Their conversation dropped off as quickly as it started. It quickly became awkward as they both looked around to avoid each other’s gaze. 

 

_ Well, this is going well…. Come on, Pidge, think.  _

 

“You know,” she tried, “you don’t look half bad yourself.” 

 

She regretted it as soon as the words were out of her mouth. 

 

Lance, however, perked up at her compliment. 

 

“Really?” 

 

God, that smile just melted her. 

 

_ Damn it, Lance, you are  _ not _ allowed to be this cute! _   
  


“Yeah,” she said, ignoring the heat in her face. “You look great.” 

 

His tongue seemed to be stuck in his mouth. He couldn’t manage a single word. And… was that- no, it couldn’t- was that  _ blush  _ on his cheeks? She must be imagining things; he probably just wasn’t expecting a compliment from her. It’s not like she does it often. Yeah, that must be it. 

 

He quickly composed himself, taking up his usual confident Lance look. 

 

“Finally succumbing to my looks, Pidge?” 

 

_ Shit, could he tell? _

 

“Pfft, in your dreams,  _ Sharpshooter _ .” 

 

Fortunately for her, that seemed to be enough. He didn’t press her any further on it, which actually surprised her. Oh well. 

 

Her mind drifted to what he said earlier. Did he mean it? Or was it just shock?

 

“So,” she dared, hoping she wouldn’t regret it, “did you really mean it? What you said about me looking nice?” 

 

“Why wouldn’t I?” 

 

His eyebrow raised. Clearly, that was the wrong thing to ask. 

 

“Well…” Her hands began fidgeting again, pulling as the fabric of her skirt. “I don’t know; you just said it was different, that’s all. You said it was a good thing.” He nodded in confirmation, but still not getting her point. “So… is this-” she gestured to her dress “better than before?” 

 

“What?” he almost yelled. “Why would you think that?” 

 

She shrugged her shoulders, not really trusting herself to speak. Luckily, Lance didn’t wait for a verbal answer. 

 

“Pidge, yes, you look nice like this; you’re really…,” he paused, bringing his voice to a whisper, “ _ pretty _ .” He cleared his throat. “But it’s not better. And honestly? I kinda just like regular Pidge. You know, gaming buddies and pranks.” 

 

She didn’t realize how big she was smiling until her cheeks began to hurt. Had he really just said that? Were her ears malfunctioning? ( _ Your ears aren’t machines, dummy! _ ) But here he was, saying it didn’t matter what she looked like. It may not have been a confession, but she was over the moon right now. 

 

“I- thank you.” 

 

“Anytime.” 

 

Why had it turned out like this? She was supposed to be the one comforting him, not the other way around!

 

Her eyes glanced behind him to the dance floor. Sure enough, Keith and Allura were still there, just as messy as they were before. 

 

Hmm… that gives her an idea. 

 

“Hey, um, what do you say we go show those two how it’s done?” 

 

He looked behind him, seeing who she was referring to. His smile vanished. 

 

“I don’t think…” 

 

“Aw come on, it’ll be fun,” she urged. She grabbed his arm gently to get his attention back. “Besides,” she lowered her voice to a whisper and admitted, “I kinda need someone to teach me how to dance.” 

 

He raised an eyebrow. 

 

“What happened to showing them ‘how it’s done’?”

 

“Well, it can’t be any worse than  _ that _ .” 

 

They both look back at Keith, who had just stepped on Allura’s feet again. Lance and Pidge grimaced at their friends. 

 

“You know what? Sure.” He held out his hand to her. “Katie Holt, would you like to dance with me?” 

 

She beamed up at him, cheeks flushing at her name as she took his hand. 

 

“It would be my pleasure.” 


End file.
